Just War in the 21st Century: Reconceptualizing Just War Theory after September 11
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Just War in the 21st Century: Reconceptualizing Just War Theory after September 11 Eric Patterson1 Department of History and Political Science, 55 Fair Drive, Vanguard University, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Debates using Just War theory to evaluate the morality of military action have been common as of late due to America’s involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq since 9/11. However, in debating the ethical use of force, it is often forgotten that Just War doctrines were formulated in a very different political and strategic milieu than the 21st century. Moreover, proponents of traditional Just War fail to note that many of the tenets are more pragmatic than ethical. This paper provides a reconceptualization of both the pragmatic and moral bases of Just War theory and its relation to the War on Terror. More specifically, the paper reframes jus ad bellum and jus in bello, taking into consideration rogue states, weapons of mass destruction, and non-state terrorist actors and networks. In addition, the paper discusses the application of jus post bellum criteria and proposes that Cold War containment policies provide a model for advancing an ethical and practical War on Terror. International Politics (2005) 42, 116–134. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ip.8800100 Keywords: Just War; September 11; ethics; Cold War
Introduction Is it ethical for the US military to kill an avowed terrorist? What if the likely ‘collateral damage’ included his wife and children? The events of September 11 and the resulting War on Terror happened suddenly, shattering old presuppositions and giving us little time to thoughtfully erect new paradigms in their place. Thus, many feel that the United States presently lacks a framework for the ethical and practical resort to force. This may be in part because the scholarly and religious communities, for partisan or ideological reasons, tend to presume against the use of state power and military force. Thus, discussion within those quarters is predictable and often lacks creativity. On the other hand, the policy-making community has had to react to a rapidly changing world since the early 1990s and therefore tends to rely on ethical categories developed in the periods of de-colonization and atomic energy that immediately followed the second World War.
Eric Patterson Just War in the 21st Century
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Some scholars have turned to traditional Just War doctrine for guidance. For a thousand years, Just War theory has been used to limit and critique the decision to go to war and the methods employed upon the battlefield. Unfortunately, however, at the beginning of the 21st century most writing on Just War and the contemporary War on Terror is flawed for at least two reasons. First, those who take Just War seriously, such as scholars operating from a religious worldview, forget the eminent practicality of Just War tenets. Second, proponents of Just War usually fail to reflect on how modern warfare has changed since the time of Augustine. This paper calls for a general rethinking of the b
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